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Shambler
'''Shamblers '''are enemies encountered in ''Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. '' Description Shamblers are undead creatures created by an unknown chemical substance (assumed, if not heavily implied, to be the earliest invention of the Da'at Yichud) originally discovered in the Parchments of Constinople by King Otto I (which he first believes is from God, but due to its destructive and uncontrollable nature he begins to believe to be the work of the Devil). Using the fragmented material, he was able to use the substance to make beasts of war. His early research caused beasts to grow in size and strength, and lead to early success against the Magyars. However, the beasts turned out to be pus ridden and in a state of decomposition. The second set of tests made the beasts grow in size and strength, and become even less controllable. However, the beasts also began emitted green gas, which had a secondary issue of causing some of the dead to rise again, in some cases burst into flame. Otto believed the ideas he had first thought had sent to him by God were actually the work of the Devil. He had Konrad a local abbot of Wulfburg seal all of the research underground including the beasts and the chemical substances, and burn Wulfburg to the ground to destroy all evidence of the research, and hopefuly destroy the documentation to stop others from copying his work, lest someone unleash the the terrors again. The Abbot was apparently relocated to another parish, upon threat of death if he ever discussed what actually occurred, and what was hidden under the burned city. It is believed that future priests of Wulfburg may have been given the sacred task of hiding the secrets less they be unleashed again. Dead bodies that come in contact with this substance or the beast's emitted gas are reanimated as violent zombies without mind and conscience (although some of them seem to have retained some intelligence or at least residual reflex movement as some are still able to use firearms, albeit not very accurately, spraying bullets about in a wild manner). Their most notable physical feature is a fiery glow seen in their eyes and mouths. Some shamblers are slow, while others are capable of great bursts of speed. However, those with the fastest speed seem to be the most 'burnt-out' on the inside, displaying the most fire exiting from inside their bodies (which causes their skin to burn and blister). The unknown compound seems to react differently with different individuals. In some cases it seems to be inert, even when breathed in. But only changes the individual if they die while it is inside their blood. For others it seems the compound will kill an individual (in particular if they have been wounded or weakened in someway), only to reanimate the body sometime later. The change can take minutes, or sometimes seconds after death (usually with a burst of fire before reanimation takes place). Sometimes individuals will change without the corpse actually falling to the ground (as in the case of a living individual being shot, only to transform into a shambler seconds after dieing, and then change its attention to the nearest target, be it former friend or foe). Shamblers can take an excessive amount of trauma before they 'die'. But bullets will still 'kill' them. Striking their head with blunt objects or bullets to the head will kill them faster (and in some cases even cause their head's to explode), similar to traditional zombies. But curiously, some shamblers appear to have survived trauma to the head such as wooden spikes jammed through their skull, or even falling from the sky from Zeppelins, only to rise soon after. Still according to some research only damage to the brain matter, or complete destruction of the body is the only way to insure that a shamble will not rise again. It's possible that not individuals killed necessarily become Shamblers (or at least it takes longer some individuals to transform). There are examples of shamblers killing Nazis, or BJ killing Nazis in which the bodies did not rise again, instead the corpses slump over to the ground. In most cases where a newly killed body becomes a shambler, the change is instaneous, they never have a chance to fall to the ground, but burst into flame, and begin searching for the nearest warm target. The chemical does seem to wear off after a while though in a living subject (or there would be a risk of those being exposed becoming carriers). It does not seem that anyone exposed, and survived the incident including B.J. had any long term effects from breathing in the compound. Rediscovery Helga von Schabbs had been receiving dreams since she was a girl, some of which she believes to have been the voices of Otto I her ancestor in contact with her. This inspired Helga's paranormal research in which she began interviewing and collecting the dreams of patients who are able to hear the voices coming from the underground site, which help her to get closer to and discover Otto's research. Many of these dreams might actually be warnings, not to venture into Otto's sealed vaults. One patient interviewed discusses having visited the Defiled Church as a child, and hearing strange voices, and feeling as if rotting hands were grabbing for him, to pull him down into dark abyss (foreshadowing the terrors that would be released if Helga persued her research). Still for others the voices, seem to drive the hearers mad, with promises of treasures or powerful secrets, enticing them to open the crypts, and release the sealed abominations and substances inside. Strategy *Like any soldier, Shamblers are just as mortal as an normal human. They do have some durability when it comes to being hit by throwing knives, can take a few hits from the pipe before going down and can be slowed down by gunfire. Behind the scenes There is heavy implication that the 'alchemical compound' is a biochemical formula based on Da'at Yichud technology. Interestingly enough, it is stated that after his discovery of the Da'at Yichud research, King Otto began hearing voices from what he initially believes to be God, or an Angel, but later comes to believe it to be the Devil. The exact name or nature of the compound is never described in full detail, it is only referred to as the 'alchemical compound' in most letters that refer to it. It is also believed by King Otto to have been ultimately inspired by the Devil rather than God, which would put it as destructive research opposed to the more benevolent (or at least neutral) purposes of the Da'at Yichud philosophy (which is technology designed to get closer to 'God' (the father of 'Creation')). On the other side hand Helga is said to have discovered parchments in Istanbul which lead to Deathhead's breakthroughs (implied to be the Super Soldier program, etc) which is most likely Da'at Yichud (Da'at Yichud parts which are scattered in her laboratory, research areas and room lend much credence to this). Letters from Otto himself, and his time, speak of coming up with the initial ideas from unconnected technological breakthroughs from the Constantinople parchments (including ideas for a laser weapon, see LaserKraftWerk). Istanbul and Constantinople are the same location, which seems both Helga and Otto may have been initially inspired by Da'at Yichud technology from the same location in the world, but Otto went onto to modify the science after following voices speaking to him. Helga may also be influenced by those same voices, explaining the dreams she has had as a child (and her interest in local Wulfburg psychic phenomena). It maybe that the dead priest, who was killed in self defense, may also been under the voices influence when it tried to kill Michael one of her patients (it clearly had driven him mad, and was trying to get him to release Otto's dark secrets as well). There are at least two instances when shambler-like Kampfhund's break through a burning building during the shambler outbreak. It is unclear if they were reanimated by the substance as well. There is no character/enemy bio for these versions of the Kamphund's though. . Gallery Nazi Shamblers.jpg|Shamblers (Nazis) Civilian Shamblers.jpg|Shamblers (Civilians) Category:Undead Enemies